Guard for electric-light connections.



A. J. TIDBALL. GUARD FOR ELECTRIC LIGHT CONNECTIONS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 20. I918.

Patented Mar. 18, 1919.

IN VEN TOR.

B3 1 I ATTORNEY.

AUBREY J'. TIDBALL, 0F DULUTH, MINNESOTA. I

GUARD FOR ELECTRIC-LIGHT ooN'NEcTIoNs.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AUBREY J. TIDBALL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Du- I luth, in the county of St. Louis and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and 1 useful Improvements in Guards for Electrio-Light Connections, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

This. invention relates to' protectors or guards for electric light socket connections and has special reference to such a guard for portable electric lights used at the terminus of a flexible wire or cable.

There are many places and kinds of work in which lights of this character are employed, but the embodiment here illustrated is especially designed for use in ship yards or like places where such lights are subjected to hard usage.

Where lights of this kind are used in the hull'of a vessel under construction, they are handled more or less carelessly and many times forced or drawn into very awkward and cramped places. The result is that the wire connection at the base of the socket is frequently ruptured or the insulation worn away and the light rendered useless.

To avoid such trouble and expense is the principal object of my'present invention.

A further object is to provide convenient means in connection with the guard for suspending the fixture from convenient places when desired. i

Other objects and advantages of the peculiar construction will appear in the further description of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings forming part of this application, and in which like reference characters representlike parts:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a lamp socket with one of the improved guards applied thereto, the guard being shown partly in section, and

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a modified form of construction of guard.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 18, 1919.

Application filed July 20, 1918. Serial No. 245,947.

socket, the cable is generally reinforced by ized iron or the like, made of a size and sufliciently long to receive the major portion of the socket 1 in its larger end and to extend beyond the base thereof far enough to protect all of the brokenpart of the cable caused by the separating of the wires 4 and 5.'

To the exterior of the smaller inner end of the shield is attached, by being wound thereabout, one end of the spiral wire coil 8, which is graduated in the diametrical measurement of its coils, from the size of the shield to which it is attached at one end, to the sizeof the'outside measurement of the cable 3 at the opposite end.

The pitch of the coils may be varied in proportion to the size of the wire used, but the idea is to have the wire sufficiently stifl to prevent the cable being bent at a sharp angle at any time and thus prolong the life of the socket connection.

There is no means for attaching the guard I to the socket as the smaller coils of the wire are of a size to snugly fit the cable and have sufiicient frictional contact therewithto hold the guard up in place on the socket.

The coils of the wire surrounding the shield are preferably securely attached thereto by soldering, and adjacent the outer dered'together forming a rigid shield 10,

similar in general shape to the shield 7 shown in Fig. 1. At the outer end of the shield portion, the end of the wire is ex tended as at 11 and formed into a hook, similar to and for the same purpose as the hook 9 shown in the other figure.

That part of the wire extending inwardly beyond the shield as at 12, may have the coils spaced apart any desired distance to suit circumstances, the last one or two being close fitting upon the cable to hold the guard wherepla-ced'. I

From the foregoing it is evidentthat I have devised a simple and efficient guard which will effectually protect and prolong the life of a portable electric socket connection to which it may be applied.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is A p 1. The combination with a portable electric lamp socket having a tapered body portion the Walls of which converge toward the end of the socket to which the electric wires are attached, of a wire guard comprising a rigid tapered portion fitting neatly over the tapered portion of the socket with the inner end thereof spaced from the end of the socket and a flexible portion composed of a spirally wound wire, one end being fixed to the rigid portion and the opposite end snugly fitting the electric wire.

2. The combination with an electric lamp socket having a tapered body portion the walls of which converge toward the end of the socket to which the electric wires are attached, of a guard composed wholly of a spirally wound single piece of wire formed into a rigid tape-red portion snugly fitting over the tapered portion of the socket and a resilient tapered portion forming a continuation of the tapered rigid portion the free end of which former snugly fits the electric wires substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. A guard for portable electric light sockets composed of a single piece of spirally wound wire formed into a rigid tapered body portion by the coils of Wire being wound closely together and a resilient body portion resulting from the coils of wire be- 4 formed into a rigid tapered portion snugly fitting over-the tapered portion of the socket and terminating into a later-ally projecting hook and a resilient tapered portion forming a continuation of the tapered rigid portion the free end of the former snugly fitting the electric wires substantially as and for the purpose described. In testimony whereof I hereunto 'affix my signature inthe presence of two witnesses.

- AUBREY J. TIDBALL.

Witnesses:

E. M. ANDERSON, S; C. BRONSON. 

